God of War: Ascension Multiplayer Thoughts

I have now gone off the deep end, and a recent decision to make God of War a competitive multiplayer game and not a pure single player game has done the job. I am officially irritated with the gaming industry. For years great ideas are being wasted on mediocre PvP games. Games that started as single-player only are beginning to gain useless and unneeded multiplayer additions. Bioshock, Assassin’s Creed, and Mass Effect made the unnecessary switch to having a multiplayer mode. While Mass Effect went the co-op route nonetheless the game did not need it. Before I begin to rant and rave about how against GoW:A getting multiplayer I would like to take a moment and discuss the unfortunate happenings of great single-player games getting the online treatment.

The first I would like to discuss Bioshock. The original title from Irrational Games was a masterpiece. Bioshock was one of a kind and the storytelling was fantastic. The game is very much worth your time for a single-player experience. The brilliant story, engaging combat, and the atmosphere was spot on. When Irrational Games stepped down to let another company do Bioshock 2, 2K Marin thought it was a brilliant idea to add multiplayer. The addition of multiplayer acted like an extension of the story. You played as a splicer in the civil war that took place during the fall of Rapture. The problem is that it was executed poorly. The players who decided to play way later after the game came out were left in the dust. Why? Because once a player gained the best loadout they ruled the battlefield. Balance is something I don’t talk about when it comes to multiplayer but in the case of a FPS title balance is key. Weapons need to balance each other out so that newer players can enjoy the game and not spend 10 minutes dying. In a nutshell Bioshock 2’s multiplayer was terrible and almost unplayable. Not to mention it added nothing to the game. If Bioshock 2 had no multiplayer the game would have been the same.

The next on the list is Assassin’s Creed. Brotherhood was the third installment in Ubisoft’s hit religious action adventure and it featured multiplayer. It was a race to get to most assassinations as possible in the stealthiest manner possible. Like with Bioshock 2, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood attempted to attach a reason to the multiplayer as well. Abstergo wanted to train more assassins. So you were a nobody that trained in the Animus to kill other players in the Animus as well. I am missing the part where I should give a fuck. This is more examples of how this game would have been exactly the same without multiplayer. It was perfectly fine as single-player. The best part is that Ubisoft has the audacity (and 2k Marin) to put achievements/trophies for multiplayer. Now, there are over achievers and completionists out there who like to 100% a game. This is usually done so through obtaining all the trophies/achievements. If you have crappy, unplayable, and boring multiplayer you will always be staring at those blank achievements.

Mass Effect 3 is a different story. The multiplayer is not competitive PvP. It is co-op, like Horde Mode with objectives. While I still find the multiplayer to be useless and unneeded it was done slightly better than Bioshock 2 and Assassin’s Creed. Your actions in multiplayer do change the outcome of the story. So it works with single-player. But why do I hate it? I am giving it praise for working so why am I so against it? While I have access to the internet (PSN because free) others may not have the ability to play online to get those benefits. Some may have a 360 and can’t afford XBL Gold. Others may straight up not have available internet. I know this is a hard concept t grasp but there are people less fortunate than us in terms of technology. So someone will not be able to experience all of Mass effect 3 because of something they may not be able to control. That is why I hate the multiplayer for ME3.

With the inclusion and availability of the internet multiplayer gaming has gone up quite a bit over the years. Before local mutiplayer was something to enjoy and play with friends. It seems now it is a constant pissing match between people you do know and who can spout out the most homoerotic action your opponent has done. single-player games are getting ruined by this, and now God of War is being added to that list.

So why is the idea of God of War: Ascension getting a 4v4 PvP multiplayer addition a bad thing? Well let me fill you in. There are six God of War games. The first two were on the PS2, the “in-between” games were on the PSP, there was a mobile game, and finally the third one is on the PS3. All of these games have been single-player. That is GoW’s charm. It relies on a fantastic combat system, brilliant voice acting, and an epic way to tell a story. There is no need to add a multiplayer feature. From what I have seen and read the GoW:A multiplayer reads like this.

Two teams of four duke it out in an arena with a rather large creature in the background. The team must get the most kills and capture certain points to gain the ability to kill the large monster. First team to do so wins. I am sure there will be other modes like Team Deathmatch or King of the Hill. However, I can’t see where online can go for a game like God of War. The formula does not work with multiple people. Sure you can learn the combos, maybe there is a plethora of weapons to choose from. There are too many factors to sift through. All I can see happening is a mix of all three blunders that Bioshock 2, Assassin’s Creed, and Mass Effect 3. It will have the unbalanced nature of Bioshock 2 (if the game takes a weapon direction), the pointless addition of multiplayer that may as well not exist from Assassin’s Creed, and finally it has a chance to change your single-player experience like ME3.

From the gameplay found here, the combat for online seems broken. If you get caught in a combo, you will die incredibly fast. Because the God of War series is known for the brutal nature of killing too much emphasis of violence will play a factor. The flourishing kills will most likely leave you open to attack. Or even worse, the finishers will leave you impervious to damage until the animation is over. The action/beat’em up nature of God of War does not belong in PvP and it has done just fine without it. The inclusion of multiplayer seems redundant and something thrown in just to please the arrogant tossers who feel the need to prove themselves.

I can’t stress this enough, multiplayer in God of War makes no damn sense at all. I have racked my brain for hours and there is no positive way to create a multiplayer experience for a game so focused on single-player. That is why the combat system is the way it is. To bring it to a PvP environment it runs the risk of being oversimplified. I could care less if it appears Sony is taking it seriously. I could care less what I am told. I want to be proven wrong. For now, I will just have to wait and see. If this game ends up like Ninja Gaiden 3, the disappointment will be too damn high.

PS: These are just my initial thoughts about GoW:A’s multiplayer. I am not judging the game by any means. I will not make a judgment about something I have not played. Hopefully, it will be at E3 2012 and I will play it there.

1 Comment

What kind of an ignorant statement is that? If you don’t like multiplayer, don’t play it. The single player campaign is there, go play it. I can’t figure out why you are upset they are ADDING something to a game which 1) Has zero effect on single player and 2) Makes the game playable long after you finish. 3) Increases fan base and support for this game. 4) Is just fucking awsome.

I suggest you stop making comments which demean other people who enjoy multiplayer. Believe it or not, some of us enjoy it and we’re not arrogant and I assure you have nothing to prove.